Into the Abyss (2 page)

Gotcha! Gray thought triumphantly. He rolled into a rising current, madly churning his tail to shift sideways just enough that the hurtling shark missed him by a fin length. Then Gray streaked after the great white and performed the very same move.

There was a satisfying “Oof!” from Gray’s opponent as he was driven into the seabed. With a tail waggle, he signaled surrender. The match was over.

Gray had finally won. He had finally beaten King Lochlan boola Naka Fiji, and it was glorious!

“Yes! Yes! I knew you were coming with Orca Bears Down!” Gray exclaimed triumphantly as Lochlan spat sand from his mouth.

“Went to that feeding ground once too often, eh? Oh, I’m going to be tasting the seabed for a week! Good match, though!” Loch replied with an embarrassed grin.

Gray flexed his pectoral fins. “I don’t blame you for trying. You’ve beaten me, like, twenty times with it!”

The crowd chanted, “Gray! Gray! Gray!” He waved his tail to everyone in the stadium, acknowledging the cheers. His mother Sandy the nurse shark was there, as were his younger brother and sister, Riprap and Ebbie. Gray felt his heart nearly burst when he saw how proudly they looked at him. He had been shocked when he learned he wasn’t technically related to them—he was a megalodon, a different sort of prehistore sharkkind that supposedly died off millions of years ago. But Sandy was the only mother Gray had ever known and that was what mattered. In the same way, he was Riprap and Ebbie’s (oddly large) big brother. For now Gray told them—and everyone else—that he was a rare type of reef shark. Only his closest friends knew his megalodon secret.

They too were watching the action, so he swam over to them. Striiker was fighting next, Gray saw. If there was fighting to be done, Striiker—Gray’s first in Line—would be there. But the rest of his Five in the Line—Shell, Mari, Snork, and Barkley—preferred to hover and watch. These five were his best and closest friends in the Big Blue and had swum flank to flank with him since the very beginning, when Gray had been banished from Coral Shiver. The adventures they had been through! From being forced to join the shiver of the ferocious great white Goblin, to stopping his plan to take over
the North Atlantis at the Tuna Run, and then banding together with King Lochlan and the formidable fins of AuzyAuzy Shiver to drive the wicked emperor Finnivus and his Black Wave armada from their territory—it was amazing that they were still around to enjoy this fine day.

But the thought of Finnivus made Gray remember there were important things to do today. “I have to go with Lochlan,” Gray told Barkley, Sandy, and the others when he saw the golden great white gesture with his tail for him to follow. “I’ll meet you all later!”

Gray swam away from the crowd to join Lochlan. He felt a small electric charge roll through the water as Prime Minister Shocks motioned Striiker and an AuzyAuzy mariner forward for their match with a flick of the tail from his flexible eel body. This electricity was especially useful when Shocks wanted everyone’s attention, like at dweller council meetings, where things could get a little shouty. And when all else failed, the Prime Minister’s full charge packed quite a wallop. After a few instructions to tell both combatants to keep it clean and bloodless, Shocks let off another bolt of electricity to signal the start of the match. Gray and Lochlan swam off, the shouts of the excited crowd rolling with them as they glided from the training field to their meeting with the leaders of Hammer and Vortex Shivers.

Gray sighed, finally able to relax a little. He was glad the match was over. He liked training, of course. But this
felt more like fighting to entertain others. Something was just not right about that. Not when so much blood had been spilled in the last year. But taking back the Riptide homewaters from Finnivus and his armada demanded some celebration, even if it was a few months later. And Lochlan had told Gray that he needed to prove his worth in front of the two other shivers that were here to consider joining their cause.

It was true that Finnivus and the Indi armada had been chased away to their homewaters. But the hateful emperor would be back to seek vengeance. It wasn’t a matter of
if
, but
when
. That was why Lochlan had sent messengers to Hammer and Vortex Shivers. “Besides,” Lochlan told Gray, “we really should break in the place with a bang-o, doncha think?”

To Gray’s thinking, this whole week had been one heck of a bang-o. After a long and often boisterous council meeting, Gray had decided to resurrect Riptide Shiver, combining his old shiver, Coral, with the Line from Rogue Shiver, as well as with any friendly sharkkind displaced by Finnivus and his warring. Riptide had been an ancient and honorable shiver for thousands of years before Goblin, its previous leader, came along and named it after
himself
. “In a few years, no one will even remember that flipper,” Striiker had insisted at the council meeting, and everyone had voted for their combined shivers to bring the name of Riptide Shiver back into being.

Coral still existed, technically, with Quickeyes the thresher as their leader, Onyx the blacktip as his first, and Gray’s mom Sandy as his second, but they decided they weren’t the fins to lead the battle against Finnivus and graciously gave up their own positions to join Riptide as shiver sharks. Riptide United was the name of the force that would swim out to battle Finnivus, though it was not yet determined how many shivers would participate.

Long-range scouts had confirmed to Gray, Lochlan, and their military advisor Whalem that Finnivus was still in the far-off Indi Shiver homewaters. They could breathe easy, at least for a little while, and so they were having this party. Lochlan had told Gray it was a
working
party. They would try to gain allies during the festivities. Most everyone else treated it like a party-party, though.

I wish I could, thought Gray.

Underneath the laughter and excitement of the celebration, Gray felt a dreadful tingle in the water. It was a sensation of danger lurking, not close right now, but coming for sure.

It had been six months since the combined forces of AuzyAuzy, Coral, and Rogue Shivers had defeated the Indi armada and sent Emperor Finnivus frantically swimming all the way to the Indi Ocean and his own homewaters. Finnivus was a cruel and vicious tiger shark, the leader of an ancient shiver that wanted to
conquer all the Big Blue. The emperor had been miraculously bested, but Finnivus wasn’t the type of fish to forgive and forget. He would return to wipe them out. And that was why, even though today’s celebration was fun, Gray couldn’t shake the feeling in the water that seemed to whisper:
Watch your tails, everyone. Watch your tails
.

Gray glanced at Lochlan, who told him, “Just hover and look tough. Remember, you can never say anything dumb if you keep your mouth shut.”

“I’ll let you do the talking,” Gray said, giving the golden great white a bump. “But thanks for all the confidence.” They swam toward the center of the home-waters and to Speakers Rock, the most impressive part of Riptide’s ancient territory.

As word of the Battle of Riptide spread, sharkkind from all over the Big Blue had come to ask questions and seek alliances. Most were small shivers, much like the one Gray grew up in. They were untrained and would be wiped out in a fight against a true battle shiver like the Indi armada.

So Lochlan had invited the leaders of Hammer and Vortex, two powerful shivers, as his personal guests for the day, in an effort to convince them to directly join forces. Hammer and Vortex each had more than two hundred battle-hardened mariners. Riptide United desperately needed their numbers. Lochlan had experience with one of the two, Hammer Shiver; it was composed entirely of fearsome
hammerheads with a leader named Grinder. They came from the North Sific.

The other shiver came from the faraway southern reaches of the Sific. Vortex’s leader was a port jackson shark—a type Gray had never seen before—named Silversun. The odd fish had a blocky head and was brown on his upper half and white on the lower, with darker brown stripes highlighting the peculiar curves of his body.

Lochlan had told Gray that Silversun being a leader was interesting because port jackson sharks weren’t very good in a fight. Now that he was approaching the shark himself, Gray could see why. Silversun was smaller than Barkley! He didn’t even have
teeth
! Port jackson sharks apparently had a crushing plate to eat shellheads and even mollusks. Gray wondered how anyone would follow him into battle, and Lochlan, reading his mind, whispered, “There’s obviously more than meets the eye with Silversun, so don’t underestimate him.” It was good advice. Besides, the rest of Silversun’s Line was composed of very big sharkkind, indeed.

“I thought you never lost, Lochlan,” drawled Grinder, the hammerhead leader.

The golden great white grinned, his rows of triangle teeth showing. “Sometimes it happens. I don’t mind losing to friends, Grinder.” Apparently, Hammer Shiver and AuzyAuzy had at one time warred against each other. But that was many, many years ago.

“Which is why you’d like to form an alliance,” Silversun said, joining the conversation. “You’re afraid you’ll lose to Finnivus.”

Gray wanted to immediately tell the weird little shark he better watch it—that Lochlan was afraid of
nothing
—but the great white flicked a fin for him to stay quiet. Loch then
nodded
to Silversun.

“Only a fool wouldn’t fear a crazy fish taking control of the Big Blue. You managed to avoid a snout-to-snout scrumble with his armada so far. But if that evil tiger tightens his grip on your territories, it’ll be the beginning of the end. For both of you. We’d be gone before that, of course. By ourselves we don’t have a chance. But if we swim as one, we can form an immovable reef that Finnivus will crack his teeth on.”

Gray marveled at Lochlan’s commanding presence and powerful words. He would never have come up with such a great answer! But even with this reply, Gray saw that the two shiver leaders weren’t ready to do a group rub just yet.

“Something to think about, I guess,” Grinder replied. “Now, where can I get a bite to eat around here?”

Lochlan looked to Gray for the answer. “Umm, this time of day? Off the western side of the homewaters is best.” The hammerhead grunted and left.

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Silversun dipped his blocky head in a sign of respect for Lochlan. “I’ll talk this over with my Line.”

Lochlan watched the pair swim off. “That could have gone better,” he said, shaking his own massive head from side to side.

“Better? If they don’t see how they’d be a couple of complete chowderheads if they don’t join us, I say we don’t need them!”

Lochlan laughed. “Silversun is no chowderhead, and neither is Grinder. Like good leaders they want to keep their options open.” Gray followed the golden great white as they swam back toward the main area of the celebration. “They want to do the best for their mariners, their families—”

Someone screamed!

Gray could smell blood in the water. His nerves jangled a warning up and down his spine. “Are we being attacked?” Gray asked Lochlan, a cold worry gripping the pit of his stomach. Was his mother okay? Were his friends? It was impossible to tell. Panicked sharkkind and dwellers were tearing through the water in all directions.

“This way,” Lochlan ordered. “Cover my topside!”

Gray did a smart half roll and got into perfect position to guard the great white’s dorsal fin. It took less than fifty strong tail strokes to get to the source of the blood.

It was a tiger shark from AuzyAuzy. Gray recognized him but didn’t know his name. He was terribly wounded with a deep, ragged bite on his right flank.

“My King,” he sputtered, looking at Lochlan, blood flowing between his notched teeth. “The Black Wave is coming. The Black Wave is coming … for you all.”

Then the AuzyAuzy mariner’s eyes rolled to the whites and he was gone.

“DOUBLE OUR PATROLS!” SHOUTED LOCHLAN,
taking control of the situation. “And find out what happened to the rest of Karten’s team!”

Gray looked at the mauled tiger shark. So his name was Karten, he thought. Even though there were hundreds of AuzyAuzy mariners, Gray was ashamed for not having known.

“I’m afraid the rest of the patrol fared no better than this worthy,” said Whalem, joining them. “Finnivus has been setting traps for our scouts.” He grimaced in pain. In the months since the Battle of Riptide, it seemed that age was catching up with the former mariner prime of Indi Shiver. Gray and Lochlan tried to talk the battle-scarred tiger into less strenuous duties, but Whalem insisted on managing the patrol schedule as well as the long-range scouting missions.

“Finnivus wants to keep us blind and in the dark, like a cavefish,” Lochlan said.

“The patrols will continue, My King,” Whalem said. He bobbed his snout. This move caused another spasm of pain along with an audible crack of cartilage. “Excuse my complaining spine. I’ll see to it at once!” Whalem swam off, but not very smoothly.

Lochlan shook his head. “That old finner is in a tidal wave of pain but still does more than half my best mariners. Gray, let’s jaw about finding him an assistant later. Now, we should see about Grinder and Silversun. We don’t want them taking this attack the wrong way.”